M6:4247 — گفت شب بیرون روم من نرم نرم / تا ز ظلمت نایدم در کِدیه شرم

Translation: He said: "At night I will go out softly, softly, Lest in the darkness, shame may not come upon me for mendicancy." Meaning: This couplet describes the resolve of a destitute man, driven by hunger and embarrassed to beg during the day, to seek alms under the cloak of night's darkness to avoid public shame.

This couplet is drawn from the tale of a man who, hoping to discover a treasure, journeys from Baghdad to Egypt. Along the way, he exhausts all his resources. Upon reaching Egypt, despite the promise of a hātif (a hidden voice, an angelic caller, once believed to be a real, mythical entity by Arabs, much like ghouls and jinn), he finds himself utterly destitute, with no recourse but to beg.

The predicament, however, is that this man was once wealthy and never had to stoop to mendicancy. His shame and self-respect prevent him from knocking on doors in broad daylight to seek alms. Mawlana poignantly depicts this internal struggle: "But shame and his dignity took hold of him / He forced himself into patience." He oscillates between self-esteem and gnawing hunger. This tension places an individual in a straitjacket, making decision-making arduous.

It is here that the man muses: "He said: 'At night I will go out softly, softly, / Lest in the darkness, shame may not come upon me for mendicancy.'" He resolves to leave his abode discreetly and silently, under the cover of night, to escape the ignominy of begging. "Kediye" here means begging or mendicancy, a term whose Persian roots, like takaddī, echo its Arabic origin. Mawlana compares this situation to shab-kūrī (night-blindness), a term for beggars who would go out at night to be less visible and thus suffer less shame.

The key insight in this couplet is humanity's confrontation with the self and inner shame. Here, shame is not merely embarrassment before others, but an existential shame arising from a situation that clashes with one's former identity. This shame is a potent force that can drive individuals towards peculiar solutions. The man in the story preserves his self-respect by concealing the act of begging in the darkness of night. This illustrates how, in dire circumstances, humans resort to creative, albeit bitter, strategies to maintain their inner dignity. Mawlana offers a profound image here of the battle between pride and necessity, and the effort to preserve one's internal "form" (sūrat) against external "character" (sīrat).

Key takeaways

• Inner shame and dignity are powerful forces that can drive individuals toward clandestine actions, even in dire circumstances.
• When caught between need and self-respect, humans seek hidden ways to preserve their dignity, however bitter or difficult.
• The cloak of night can provide cover for actions that would be a source of shame if performed during the day.
• Unwilling confrontation with poverty poses a profound challenge to one's identity and pride, illustrated here by the desire to beg in secret.
• The man's decision for 'night-blindness' symbolizes an attempt to conceal a perceived flaw or situation that conflicts with his self-image.